This invention relates to liquid cooling towers, and, more particularly, to a liquid cooling tower which is formed from fiberglass reinforced polyester resin panels.
Cooling towers are used to cool liquid by contact with air. The liquid is allowed to flow downwardly through the tower, and a counter current flow of air is drawn through the falling liquid by various means. A common application of liquid cooling towers is for cooling water (dissipating waste heat) used in electrical generating and process plants and industrial and institutional air conditioning systems.
Most cooling towers include a tower structure which encloses a fill material. The fill material has spaces through which the liquid flows downwardly and the air flows upwardly to provide heat and mass transfer between the liquid and the air. The tower structure may be formed from concrete, metal, or other material.
Metal parts of cooling towers can be corroded by the local atmosphere and/or the liquid which is being cooled. Concrete is very durable, but concrete towers are expensive and heavy. Many cooling towers are located on roofs of buildings, and the weight of a concrete cooling tower can cause building design problems.
Plastic parts are resistant to corrosion, but plastic parts ordinarily would not provide enough strength to support the fill material and the weight of the tower itself. One well known type of fill material which is used by Ceramic Cooling Towers of Forth Worth, Tex. consists of stacked layers of open-celled clay tiles. This fill material can weigh 60,000 to 70,000 pounds for a conventional size air conditioning cooling tower. Plastic structural parts of a cooling tower must not only support the weight of the fill material but must also resist wind forces and should be designed to withstand earthquake loads. We are not aware of any cooling towers whose structural parts are formed completely of plastic.
According to the invention, a cooling tower is formed from fiberglass reinforced polyester resin panels and beams. All of the structural parts of the tower are fiberglass reinforced plastic except the cast iron lintels which are used to support the fill material and stainless steel bolts which connect the fiberglass reinforced polyester parts. The panels are formed to distribute the load of the tower, the fill material, and the liquid basin to the corners and inlet columns of the tower, and the panels are reinforced with unidirectional glass fibers in critical areas to provide sufficient structural strength. A fan is positioned within a fan shroud in the top of the tower, and the fan and fan motor are supported by the shroud. Since the fan and the shroud move together if the motor vibrates, the clearance between the fan and the shroud can be minimized, thereby increasing the efficiency of the tower.